Ascend Elements to relocate its headquarters, R&D Tech Center

Ascend Elements has announced plans to move its corporate headquarters and research and development (R&D) center from its current location in Westborough, Massachusetts to a 101,000-square-foot facility at 39 Jackson Rd. in the Pathway Devens campus in Devens, Massachusetts. The facility is owned and operated by King Street Properties in Boston. The 31-mile relocation is planned for September 2024.

Ascend says it has experienced headcount growth of more than 500 percent in the last 18 months and currently employs approximately 350 team members globally, including 140 people in Massachusetts.

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“This relocation will be a milestone for Ascend Elements as we continue our rapid growth in the engineered battery materials industry,” says Mike O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements. “The Pathway Devens location is a world-class facility with excellent amenities in a community of cleantech and biotech innovators. We look forward to having space to expand and a facility that will meet our current and future needs.”

Ascend Elements hosted the grand opening of its first commercial-scale recycling facility in Covington, Georgia, earlier this year. The company says the $50 million Base 1 facility is the largest of its type in North America.

The 150,000-square-foot facility began partial operations in August 2022 and has the ability to process 30,000 metric tons of used lithium-ion batteries and manufacturing scrap—equal to 70,000 electric vehicle batteries—per year.

Ascend Elements uses its patented Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process to transform used lithium-ion batteries and gigafactory manufacturing scrap into new, engineered battery materials, specifically cathode active materials (CAM) and cathode precursor (pCAM). The company’s customers include Honda, SK Battery America, Freudenberg e-Power Systems and others.

Pathway Devens is a 45-acre, purpose-built development in Devens and includes an 8,300-square-foot amenity center and taproom that King Street will open in the first quarter of 2024. The amenity center includes a fitness center, lounge area, game room and a café. Other businesses located on the campus include Electric Hydrogen, Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Azzur Group.

Tyson Reynoso, managing director and partner, King Street Properties, says, “Ascend Elements’ mission to create a more sustainable lithium-ion battery supply chain aligns with King Street’s mission to create science campuses that ultimately help solve human health and climate issues, and we are thrilled to welcome them to our growing roster of tenants at Pathway Devens. This addition further solidifies Devens as the top destination in Greater Boston for innovators engaged in advanced manufacturing.”

“For a climate-tech company in growth mode, Massachusetts is the only place to be,” O’Kronley says. “Our technology was invented at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and our first location was in Worcester. We have very strong ties to the area, and we look forward to becoming part of the Devens community.”